Area unemployment rates rise in August
Despite hiring in such industries as construction, retailing and natural resources, employment couldn’t quite keep up with unemployment in August in the Pittsburgh region. Michele Hiester, industry and business analyst with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor ‘s Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, said the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the seven-county Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area (PMSA) rose from 4.9 percent in July to 5.1 percent in August.
In Fayette County, jobless rates rose from 6.8 to 7 percent from July to August. Fayette’s August 2005 rate also was 7 percent. Fayette County had the 65th highest jobless rate among Pennsylvania’s 67 counties in August.
Greene County’s unemployment rates were 6 percent in July; 6.2 percent in August; and 6.3 percent in August 2005. Greene County’s unemployment ranked 61st among 67 counties.
Washington County’s jobless rates were 5.2 percent in August; 5.1 percent in July; 5.5 percent in August 2005; and it ranked 27th for unemployment among 67 counties during August.
Over the last 12 months, establishment employment advanced by 10,100 jobs, making August the 14th consecutive month jobs were above the year-ago level, the state labor report showed.
“The super sectors with the most significant gains were education and health services, leisure and hospitality and government. Manufacturing remains the industry with the most over-the-year reductions,’ Hiester said.
Hiester reported that in the PMSA, the “August increase in the seasonally adjusted resident employment estimate recovered nearly half of the June-to-July decline.’
Employment increased at a slower pace than unemployment causing the unemployment rate to rise .2 percent, she added.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania’s seasonally adjusted rate rose .1 percent in August to 4.9 percent, while the United States’ rate slipped .1 percent to 4.7 percent.
The PMSA’s unemployment rate was down .1 percent when compared to August 2005.
“Over the year, resident employment was up 4,800 while unemployment barely budged. A look at the past five years reveals resident employment was up 20,500 from the December 2002 trough and was down 8,600 since July 2001, the most recent peak,’ Hiester said.
Total nonfarm jobs numbers, not adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, was down 3,500 in August in the PMSA, which includes Fayette, Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Butler, Beaver and Armstrong counties.
Hiester said the government job sector was responsible for more than 90 percent of the total decline in jobs.
“School-related declines dominated total job reductions in August. Educational services and local government were down as summer recess went into full swing. When schools return in September, a reversal of the summertime job reductions can be expected,’ she said.
However, continued summer hiring in construction bumped job levels in construction, natural resources and mining up 500 from July to August. Seasonal gains over the last six months added 13,500 jobs to the region’s economy. This was above the average February-to-August seasonal buildups seen over the past six years, Hiester reported.
Retailers also expanded their payrolls by 600 in August. Typical back-to-school gains were augmented by recent openings in the PMSA, including two Boscov’s department stores, according to the monthly labor report.
Summer gains in accommodation and food services pushed job levels up 800 over the month.
Most of those additions were at full-service restaurants.